Community Forums

CoachDitka · 02-28-2019, 12:18 PM

Not long after I bought my rig I decided I had to accept fixing things myself from now on. Too expensive to pay anyone else to do routine maintenance in the coach.

Well I also break my cell phone a lot. Usually I crack the glass, sometimes the LCD screen too. It's at least $80 each time and it starts to get expensive.

Well I found out you can buy the parts yourself for only $20-30. And the fix isn't that hard. So I tried it myself and sure enough I fixed the damn thing.

Feels good.

CIDE · 02-28-2019, 12:28 PM

As a senior, I'm amazed at the amount of info on YouTube, there's an entire universe of information showing how to do just about anything.

CoachDitka · 02-28-2019, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CIDE

As a senior, I'm amazed at the amount of info on YouTube, there's an entire universe of information showing how to do just about anything.

Right? I did a little auto repair on an old car a while back. Needed to fix the door latch, including taking the door apart. Videos about the exact year and model car and how to take each of the different doors apart.

I thought a cell phone would be more complicated but really it was even easier. Fixing a screen on an iphone is about as complicated as replacing a monitor on a desktop computer, except you need to remove and keep track of some tiny little screws. With a magnetic screwdriver it's pretty simple. Not sure why I was ever intimidated.

Isaac-1 · 02-28-2019, 12:49 PM

I agree Youtube is wonderful for such stuff, I recently had to replace the windshield wiper motor on my F250 and there was a step by step video for my exact model on youtube. It told me what size wrenches I would need and everything.

Bahamaniac · 02-28-2019, 12:52 PM

Its amazing what you can find just by looking. When I was still working I used to pull up videos to help me fix multimillion dollar robotic machines. With ambition and a little talent you can fix most anything!

RRR · 02-28-2019, 01:22 PM

Worse thing about cell phones and other small items is seeing the small screws.

Kennzz05 · 02-28-2019, 07:07 PM

What I wanna know is how as a society, did we ever get this far,without the internet?

Do26 · 02-28-2019, 09:32 PM

I dun learn'd how's to fix things from books, in a classroom, from trial and messin up, and from some great old fellers. And of course, some no longer common sense.

Dem books even had black and white things we used to call photos... Last century, we called em shop manuals, and we had racks of them.

CIDE · 03-01-2019, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Do26

I dun learn'd how's to fix things from books, in a classroom, from trial and messin up, and from some great old fellers. And of course, some no longer common sense.

Dem books even had black and white things we used to call photos... Last century, we called em shop manuals, and we had racks of them.

Tru Dat.

**NLOVNIT** · 03-01-2019, 11:18 AM

We've still got entire sets of how-to books we bought decades ago through Time Life (remember those? They were the You Tube in print)....how to replace a toilet, how to install an outlet, how to replace a garbage disposal, how to build a deck....etc. Now, if I need to find out how to do something it's Google which leads me to You Tube. All those books are good for now is filling up the bottom shelf of the bookcase & looking pretty because they've all got the same binding.

Lori-

CoachDitka · 03-01-2019, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

We've still got entire sets of how-to books we bought decades ago through Time Life (remember those? They were the You Tube in print.)....how to replace a toilet, how to install an outlet, how to replace a garbage disposal, how to build a deck....etc. Now, if I need to find out how to do something it's Google which leads me to You Tube. All those books are good for now is filling up the bottom shelf of the bookcase & looking pretty because they've all got the same binding.

Lori-

Now imagine what happens if that stuff all goes offline.

We should be archiving and storing this information somehow.

It's too bad that computer storage won't last very long on the scale of history, so even if you bury it in a vault it would degrade within a few hundred years and be unreadable.

Electra 225 · 03-01-2019, 10:12 PM

We have a bunch of those books too! There's nothing wrong with books. Besides, it's still easier, though I do use the internet.....PDFs and YouTube......to have a book open near the project for reference instead of squinting at my smartphone to read the next steps. It's all useful.

dennis45 · 03-01-2019, 10:29 PM

There certainly is a plethora of information to be viewed on Utube alright however, it's not always the Best Information.

I watched a fellow on one video doing a brake job and going on about how simple it is etc.
I do know a thing or two about automotive brakes. Back when the earth was cooling in the 60's and early 70's I worked at a Ford dealership and specialized in the brake bay for a couple years.

So this clown on the video proceeded to install the new shoes on his old Ford after removing the old parts. He didn't bother to measure the old drums for wear or have them machined, didn't even look at the slave cylinders and didn't even bother to clean up the backing plates to remove the accumulated rust and dirt.
Now he puts the shoes on backwards on one side and the correct way on the other side. He lathers everything Liberally with Never-size which will get on the new shoes and render them useless.
Point is, Don't take all Utube videos as gospel. A lot of these guys are hacks.

Electra 225 · 03-01-2019, 10:41 PM

Good point Dennis. A good example of don't believe everything you see. Take it in, observe, then verify, like a doctor second opinion. We DO now more than ever, live in a world of illusions.